Some background info, I’m Mexican American but consider myself basically full-blown Mexican (except during the World Cup months in which I’m a DIE-HARD Tim Howard fan and all bets are off. Die hard). But I digress…Growing up in a typical Mexican family, I was taught to be proud of my heritage and encouraged to learn more about my culture.

I remember the first time I ever saw my last name (it is unnecessarily long and of Spanish descent) at the National Museum of Mexican Art, I came home uber-excited to share the news with my parents. Now, to think that my junior-year class field trip, which was a part of my Immigrant Studies class, could have been cancelled because the superintendent felt threatened by the class itself is kind of ridiculous. RIDICULOUS, I say.

In case you’re not a John Stewart fan (I, myself, am more of a Colbert kind of girl), here’s a link to an NPR segment in which John Huppenthal, the state’s superintendent, explains his decision to ban this type of ethnic class (warning: you will probably chuckle at some of the things this guy says, i.e. teachers needing to be “very careful” about the topic of slavery so blacks don’t resent whites):

Interestingly enough, the only ethnic classes being scrutinized are Mexican American ones. Not African American, not Asian American. Just the Mexican American ones. Surprise, surprise. So basically, the guys in charge of the Tucson education system (which, by my guess, are not ethnically inclined) feel they are being ostracized and hated on. HA! They feel targeted?? What about that little ol’ SB 1070 Arizona bill, hmm? Who was targeted there? (Just to fill you in, that bill required “aliens” to have immigration documents on them at all times. The problem was how to determine who was an alien and who wasn’t. Spoiler: YOU CAN’T. Thus, racial profiling is put into play). Racism is still very real. It’s alive and still kickin’.

Leave a comment letting me know what you think about this whole deal or any other related dealio.

I was 11 when 9/11 happened and what I do recall are blurry fragments. Part of me wishes I’d been older so I could’ve grasped the severity of what was going on. Then again, a part of me is relieved in a kind of “ignorance-is-bliss” way that I was too small to fully understand the situation. Today in my film class, we were discussing Japanese cinema post WWII and the professor played the short film by the Japanese director Shohei Imamura from the collection of 9/11 videos, 11’09’’01.

On my way back to my room, I kept looking up at the Sears Tower (I refuse to call it Willis or any other name) and thinking “what if the attack had happened here?” and “what if that ever happens here?” Basically, I managed to scare myself for a good 15 minutes. Which made me think, people all over the world worry about being attacked every day. If only we all lived by John’s Lennon’s song Imagine, the world would be so different…